Today, Eyefluence quietly announced on its website
that it has been acquired by Google. The company has developed a
suite of technologies for tracking eye behavior for virtual
reality and augmented reality applications.

The company was founded in 2013 by Jim Marggraff, a serial
entrepreneur who previously founded Livescribe, a smart pen
company that was acquired by Anoto.

To date, the company has raised $21.6 million in two
rounds. Their $7.6 million Series A was raised from Intel
Capital, who was the sole investor in that round. Their Series B,
some $14 million closed in November 2015, was led by Motorola
Solutions Venture Capital, with participation from NHN
Investment, Dolby Family Ventures, and Jazz Venture Partners.
Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Google’s acquisition of Eyefluence signals continuing
interest by the search giant in augmented reality and virtual
reality applications. The move may telegraph future strategy in
its newly-launched Pixel phone line, which currently has VR
capabilities enabled by the Daydream VR headset, which is similar
to Samsung’s Gear VR platform in form and function.

How, exactly, Google plans to incorporate Eyefluence into
the company’s broader portfolio of products, services and
features is to be determined. It’s also unclear whether the
acquisition was a strategic move to acquire intellectual property
— in the form of Eyefluence’s many patents for eye
tracking technology — as a counterbalance to Facebook and
Microsoft’s continued research and development efforts into VR
and AR applications.